Beating the economies of scale through local food

Summary

Often local and organic food producers and their supply chains face two main challenges: high logistical costs and complex distribution, and estab-lishing lasting relations with the consumers. Conven-tional supply chains drive the costs down through benefits of economies of scale and have therefore a competitive advantage over the small initiatives. At the same time the conventional supermarket chains are part of a bigger food system and cannot efficiently meet changing consumer demands. This creates a window of opportunity for the local and organic food enterprises such as the Dutch Willem&Drees case study shows. In order to seize this opportunity new ways of cooperation and communications are needed. This means creation of short food supply chains that are based on inclusive social values, which allow mainstreaming of these initiatives in the conventional food system.